1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to motor vehicles; providing for deputy
1.3 	registrars of motor vehicles; amending Minnesota
1.4 	Statutes 2004, section 168.33, subdivision 2.
1.5 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.6 	Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 168.33,
1.7 	subdivision 2, is amended to read:
1.8 		Subd. 2.Deputy registrars.  (a) The registrar may
1.9 	appoint, hire, and discharge and fix the compensation of the
1.10 	necessary employees, in the manner provided by law, as may be
1.11 	required to enable the registrar to properly carry out the
1.12 	duties imposed by this chapter.  The registrar may appoint, and
1.13 	for cause discontinue, a deputy registrar for any statutory or
1.14 	home rule charter city as the public interest and convenience
1.15 	may require, without regard to whether the county auditor of the
1.16 	county in which the city is situated has been appointed as the
1.17 	deputy registrar for the county or has been discontinued as the
1.18 	deputy registrar for the county, and without regard to whether
1.19 	the county in which the city is situated has established a
1.20 	county license bureau which issues motor vehicle licenses as
1.21 	provided in section 373.32.
1.22 	(b) The registrar may appoint, and for cause discontinue, a
1.23 	deputy registrar for any statutory or home rule charter city as
1.24 	the public interest and convenience may require, if the auditor
1.25 	for the county in which the city is situated chooses not to
2.1 	accept appointment as the deputy registrar for the county or is
2.2 	discontinued as a deputy registrar, or if the county in which
2.3 	the city is situated has not established a county license bureau
2.4 	which issues motor vehicle licenses as provided in section
2.5 	373.32.  A person appointed by the registrar as a deputy
2.6 	registrar for any statutory or home rule charter city must be a
2.7 	resident of the county in which the city is situated.
2.8 	(c) The registrar may appoint, and for cause discontinue,
2.9 	the county auditor of each county as a deputy registrar.  Upon
2.10 	approval of the county board, the auditor, with the approval of
2.11 	the director of motor vehicles, may appoint, and for cause
2.12 	discontinue, the clerk or equivalent officer of each statutory
2.13 	or home rule charter city or any other person as a deputy
2.14 	registrar as public interest and convenience may require,
2.15 	regardless of the appointee's county of residence.  At the
2.16 	request of the governing body of a statutory or home rule
2.17 	charter city, the auditor shall appoint, and may for cause
2.18 	discontinue, the clerk or equivalent officer of a city, or
2.19 	another officer or employee of the city designated by the
2.20 	governing body, as a deputy registrar:
2.21 	(1) if the city is a county seat or, if not, is larger than
2.22 	the seat of the county in which it is situated; and
2.23 	(2) no office of a deputy registrar is situated within the
2.24 	city or within 15 miles of the city by the most direct public
2.25 	route.
2.26 	(d) Notwithstanding any other provision, a person other
2.27 	than a county auditor or a director of a county license bureau,
2.28 	who was appointed by the registrar before August 1, 1976, as a
2.29 	deputy registrar for any statutory or home rule charter city,
2.30 	may continue to serve as deputy registrar and may be
2.31 	discontinued for cause only by the registrar.  The county
2.32 	auditor who appointed the deputy registrars is responsible for
2.33 	the acts of deputy registrars appointed by the auditor.  Each
2.34 	deputy, before entering upon the discharge of duties, shall take
2.35 	and subscribe an oath to faithfully discharge the duties and to
2.36 	uphold the laws of the state.  If a deputy registrar appointed
3.1 	under this subdivision is not an officer or employee of a county
3.2 	or statutory or home rule charter city, the deputy shall in
3.3 	addition give bond to the state in the sum of $10,000, or a
3.4 	larger sum as may be required by the registrar, conditioned upon
3.5 	the faithful discharge of duties as deputy registrar.
3.6 	(e) Until January 1, 2009 2015, a corporation governed by
3.7 	chapter 302A may be appointed a deputy registrar.  Upon
3.8 	application by an individual serving as a deputy registrar and
3.9 	the giving of the requisite bond as provided in this
3.10 	subdivision, personally assured by the individual or another
3.11 	individual approved by the commissioner of public safety, a
3.12 	corporation named in an application shall become the duly
3.13 	appointed and qualified successor to the deputy registrar.  The
3.14 	appointment of any corporation as a deputy registrar expires
3.15 	January 1, 2009 2015.  A county board shall appoint, or the
3.16 	commissioner shall appoint if the county board declines to do
3.17 	so, an individual as successor to the corporation as a deputy
3.18 	registrar.  The county board or commissioner shall appoint as
3.19 	the successor agent to a corporation whose appointment expires
3.20 	under this paragraph an officer of the corporation if the
3.21 	officer applies for appointment before July 1, 2009 2015.
3.22 	(f) Each deputy registrar appointed under this subdivision
3.23 	shall keep and maintain, in a convenient public place within or
3.24 	in close proximity to the place for which appointed, a
3.25 	registration and motor vehicle tax collection bureau, to be
3.26 	approved by the registrar, for the registration of motor
3.27 	vehicles and the collection of taxes on motor vehicles.  The
3.28 	deputy registrar shall keep records and make reports to the
3.29 	registrar as the registrar, from time to time, may require.  The
3.30 	records must be maintained at the facility of the deputy
3.31 	registrar.  The records and facilities of the deputy registrar
3.32 	must at all times be open to the inspection of the registrar or
3.33 	the registrar's agents.  The deputy registrar shall report to
3.34 	the registrar by the next working day following receipt all
3.35 	registrations made and taxes and fees collected by the deputy
3.36 	registrar.  The filing fee imposed under subdivision 7 must be
4.1 	deposited in the treasury of the place for which appointed or,
4.2 	if not a public official, a deputy shall retain the filing fee,
4.3 	but the registration tax and any additional fees for delayed
4.4 	registration the deputy registrar has collected the deputy
4.5 	registrar shall deposit by the next working day following
4.6 	receipt in an approved state depository to the credit of the
4.7 	state through the commissioner of finance.  The place for which
4.8 	the deputy registrar is appointed through its governing body
4.9 	must provide the deputy registrar with facilities and personnel
4.10 	to carry out the duties imposed by this subdivision if the
4.11 	deputy is a public official.  In all other cases, the deputy
4.12 	shall maintain a suitable facility for serving the public.

4.13 	Sec. 2. DEPUTY REGISTRAR AND DRIVER'S LICENSE AGENT
4.14 	APPOINTMENT.
 4.15 	Notwithstanding any restriction in law or rule concerning
4.16 	proximity of deputy motor vehicle registrar offices or predicted
4.17 	number of annual applications processed, the commissioner of
4.18 	public safety shall appoint the auditor of Carver County as a
4.19 	deputy motor vehicle registrar and driver's license agent in the
4.20 	city of Chanhassen.  All provisions of Minnesota Statutes,
4.21 	sections 168.33 and 171.061, not inconsistent with this section,
4.22 	apply to the appointments under this section.